Last night, I caught my first episode of MY NAME IS EARL. No real reason why I haven't watched it before...it just never caught my attention.

However, yesterday's episode was one of the most brilliantly funny half hours I'd seen in years. Everyone in the show (I'm assuming all of them are main stars in the show?) all put pen to paper and made up a story and it played out in their specific way. One guy made a song dedicated to respecting food; another made a really cheesy spanish soap opera, and what have you.

My question: are all episodes this funny? Is this a show that's worth getting into? What's the general story of the show?

I know i could just google it, but I trust the opinions of the members of this board, and would be interested in seeing what people have to say.

It's a damned good show. Not as good as The Office or 30 Rock, but good. I think that was one of its more original episodes, but there have been funnier ones as well, especially once you get to know the characters better. It's definitely worth checking out more.

I watched all of Season 1 and part of Season 2 of the show and while I was fairly entertained, nothing ever struck me as being truly funny. I often was amused and smiled at some of the lines and situations, but I don't recall ever laughing out loud at anything the way I do with other current comedies like 30 Rock, How I Met Your Mother, and the Office. If I had more free time I'd probably watch it.

Lloyd: When I met Mary, I got that old fashioned romantic feeling, where I'd do anything to bone her.Harry: That's a special feeling.

It's on my list of regular shows to watch, but I've found that in the last year or so the straight episodes are completely forgettable, while the twist episodes (for example, the two times they were on COPS, or the Y2K episode) are just blindingly funny. It's weird, because it's like My Name Is Earl would be so much better if Earl wasn't trying to be a good person.

Most underrated comedy on TV, hands down. This season so far has been particularly brilliant since the writers anticipated the strike and thus planned the first 10-11 episodes into one self-contained arc (Earl in prison). The result was a great series of episodes that paid off in such a well-crafted way that even if the season doesn't get back on track, I feel satisfied with my Earl fix for the year. It's been the equal of 30 Rock and has more than a little better than the Office.

How you uh, how you comin' on that novel you're working on? Huh? Gotta a big, uh, big stack of papers there? Gotta, gotta nice litte story you're working on there? Your big novel you've been working on for 3 years? Huh? Gotta, gotta compelling protaganist? Yeah? Gotta obstacle for him to overcome? Huh? Gotta story brewing there? Working on, working on that for quite some time? Huh? Yea, talking about that 3 years ago. Been working on that the whole time? Nice little narrative? Beginning, middle, and end? Some friends become enemies, some enemies become friends? At the end your main character is richer from the experience? Yeah? Yeah?

You've got to find a way to watch the previous episodes. They're much funnier when you know the characters and their quirks and they have a lot of quirks on this show. Jamie Presley is the funniest woman on tv in a long time.

Yeah, the more gimmicky episodes, like the writing episode, or the Cops episodes, or the last one of the season, where he abandons his list, are better than the more traditional episodes.

Why would it matter if he is Canadian? Does NBC not broadcast in Canada so it's illegal or does NBC.com block Canadians?

The Canadian rights to Earl are held by Global TV and NBC would be infringing on those rights to allow him to view it. The awesome site they co-own with Fox, Hulu.com, similarly bans foreign visitors for the same reason.

Originally posted by PeterStorkThe Canadian rights to Earl are held by Global TV and NBC would be infringing on those rights to allow him to view it. The awesome site they co-own with Fox, Hulu.com, similarly bans foreign visitors for the same reason.

Confirmed. We don't get a lot of things, such as Office deleted scenes, or any of Comedy Central's Daily Show clips, or any of the Wrestling Society X web-only offerings (which means I *still* have never seen Matt Classic, which makes me cry).

Yeah, I wrote some new scripts. I know, right? WHY (Large italics now [hopefully] represent titles appearing on the first two pages of "most popular" sales listings for Amazon, which combine formats into a single listing.